North Florida

American Overseas Marine Corporation (AMSEA), on behalf of MarAd, has granted North Florida Shipyards (Jacksonville), a contract to modify deck spaces of M/V Cape Wrath.
With work encompassing the removal of six movable decks, and one fixed deck, three new fixed decks will be fabricated by the yard's affiliate - North Florida Shipbuilding - and installed in the cargo spaces. Additional modifications will be performed on fire stations, vent systems, lighting and hydraulic systems to serve the new deck areas.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration today announced $17.1 million in grants to 14 small shipyards in 10 states. The grants are part of the Assistance to Small Shipyards program.
“Small shipyards are vitally important for the health of the maritime industry, and for the nation’s economy,” said Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.
The purpose of the grants is to make capital and infrastructure improvements that facilitate the

Thales North America has announced that Frank T. Tobin Jr., formerly Senior Vice President of Spectrum Solutions Group, has joined the company’s Business Development team in the newly created position of Vice President, Homeland Security.
“Frank’s extensive experience in, and knowledge of, the homeland security and defense marketplaces make him an obvious choice for Thales as we step up our efforts to promote our extensive catalog of homeland security, IT, aerospace and defense products

Bringer Lines, a Miami-based air and ocean shipping company, is beginning a new service from Port Everglades to the Amazon region of Brazil with Japanese cargo shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd , better known as “K” Line.
“The Broward County Commission has long recognized the trade opportunities created by having an oceangoing shipping service to Brazil as Florida’s leading trade partner

The Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane returns home Saturday, June 7 at 1 p.m. from a 61-day patrol in support of maritime homeland security, counter-drug operations and alien migrant interdiction in the Florida Straits and Caribbean Sea.
At the opening of Operation Iraqi Freedom and with the national threat level at orange, Harriet Lane was ordered to patrol the Florida Straits and positively identify shipping traffic approaching the southern U.S. through the well-traveled old Bahama channel

Six people were rescued by a good Samaritan following a boat fire aboard a boat southwest of Islamorada, Florida Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.
No injuries have been recorded.
A good Samaritan notified watchstanders at Coast Guard Station Islamorada of a fire aboard an approximately 40-foot cigar boat roughly five miles north of Lower Matecumbe Key, Florida at approximately 2 p.m.
The good Samaritan then rescued the six individuals from the burning vessel.

Suez Energy North America's subsidiary, Calypso LNG, LLC has received a letter from the United States Coast Guard deeming complete Calypso's application for a Deepwater Port License. A Notice of Application will be published in the Federal Register which will start a statutory review period for approval of a license to build and operate Calypso's proposed offshore liquefied natural gas facility.
On March 1, 2006, Calypso filed a Deepwater Port License Application with the U.S

Royal Caribbean is pushing back to late June final decisions on building two new 2,100-passenger ships costing about $500 million each.
The move by Royal Caribbean, which is based in Miami and has a 19-ship fleet, comes amid a dramatic expansion of cruise ship fleets. The industry last year added 11 percent to passenger capacity and is scheduled to add 55 ships over the next four years.
Royal Caribbean announced on Tuesday that the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany

On February 25, 2009, Calypso LNG, LLC informed the Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard it will cease all license processing work on the Calypso Deepwater Port LNG project, fully withdrawing its application from consideration at this time. As such, Calypso will not pursue the necessary approvals from the Maritime Administration or the state to license their proposed energy receiving facility off the coast of Florida.

CaroTrans, a global NVOCC (non-vessel operating common carrier) and ocean freight consolidator, announced a new all-water LCL (less than container-load) import service from Shanghai to Atlanta via the Port of Savannah.
It is a 32-day transit. Freight is deconsolidation at CaroTrans’ Atlanta CFS (container freight station) for timely cargo availability. Expedited distribution services are available to Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.

On recent routine United States Public Health inspections (USPHI) conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Holland America Line’s ms Statendam, ms Nieuw Amsterdam and ms Ryndam achieved perfect scores of 100.

Survival Craft Inspectorate (SCI), a global provider of emergency marine evacuation systems, has selected a Swedish company to drive further growth in Scandinavia.
Scanunit has agreed to a partnership with SCI for sales and installation rights of Safelaunch lifeboat release and retrieval

NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed today to reclassify the green sea turtle under the Endangered Species Act, and list turtles originating from two breeding populations currently considered endangered as threatened due to improvements in their populations.

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has supplied Royal Caribbean International's first Quantum Class cruise ship with a crane and observation gondola called the North Star. It will lift guests 91m above sea level to give them panoramic views of the ship, sea and ports of call.

Maritime security experts are gathering this week at Maritime Security 2015 East in Jacksonville, Florida, to exchange information and ideas, as well as learn about and see emerging technologies and operational concepts in action. Presentations were made by speakers from the Navy and Coast

Global marine engineering consultant company London Offshore Group Ltd (LOC) opened an office in Houston in 1985, signaling the start of 30 years of involvement in U.S. marine warranty surveying and maritime consulting.
In 2002, the group established a Miami office to serve clients in

U.S. fines Italian shipping company $2.75m for falsifying oil records
Carbofin S.p.A., an Italian domiciled company that owned and operated the M/T Marigola was sentenced to pay an overall criminal penalty of $2.75 million for knowingly falsifying the vessel’s oil record book in

Following an extensive evaluation protocol, the Kuwaiti Ministry of the interior has placed an order with Tampa Yacht Manufacturing LLC based in Florida – U.S.A, parent company of Tampa Defence UK and Tampa Defense USA, for 29 Fast Coastal Interceptor craft for the Kuwaiti Coast Guard

German KVM company Guntermann & Drunck GmbH (G&D) announced it will distribute its equipment from new U.S. subsidiary G&D North America Inc. in Miami, Fla.
With the founding of its new subsidiary, G&D said it aims to increase its presence in the North American

Holland America Line won top honors in four categories in the 2015 Cruise Critic Cruisers’ Choice Awards. The premium cruise line took first place in Best Dining (large-ship category) for ms Nieuw Amsterdam, Best Value-for-Money (mid-sized category) for ms Zuiderdam

Energy infrastructure and LNG solutions provider WesPac Midstream and its subsidiary Clean Marine Energy (CME) have awarded a contract to Conrad Orange Shipyard for the construction of a dedicated LNG bunker barge for the marine market in North America.

Catamaran builder Brian Hall is too young to remember when ferries plied the route between Florida and Cuba in the 1950s, but he has plans to be among the first to revive the once-popular route.
Boosted by President Barack Obama's policy of seeking to normalize relations with the

Duke Energy Corp has agreed to pay a fine of about $102 million for environmental violations related to a power plant's coal ash spill into a North Carolina river last year and the company's management of coal ash basins in the state.

Port Canaveral launched a new website this week at www.portcanaveral.com, the Canaveral Port Authority announced today.
“Our goal across all business lines is to provide the best experience possible and this upgrade to our website helps us achieve that goal because our website often is the